Fire-extinguisher.



A. L HANSEN.

FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10. 19:5.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

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FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10.

m5- Patented Mar. 4,1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

A. L. HANSEN.

FIRE EXTINGUISHER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10. 1915.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

AUGIE L. HANSEN,

OF EVAN STON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO J USTRI'IE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

FIRE-EXTINGUISHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

Applicatiomfiled September 10, 1915. Serial No. 49,859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGIE La; HANsEN, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Extinguishers, of which the following is a specification.

M invention relates to fire extinguishers, particularly to the portable kind.

Among the important objects of the invention are to provide a hand operated extinguisher in which air pump mechanism is operable to pump air into a liquid container directly in contact with the liquid to act as a piston to efl'ect forcible ejection of the liquid from a nozzle; to provide air reservoir space within the extinguisher housing into which the air is compressed by the pump mechanism together with means for permitting ves-- cape of the compressed air into the liquid container only after the air reaches a certain pressure in the reservoir space; to provide,

double pump mechanism part of WhlCh operates to compress. air into the reservoir space on the out-stroke and the other art of which operates to compress air into t e reservoir space on the in-stroke of the piston structures; to provide efficient means for preventing entrance of liquid to the interior of the pump barrels; to provide improved arrangement whereby less effort is required on the out-stroke than on the in-stroke to operate the pump mechanism; to provide an arrangement in which the discharge nozzle is at one end of the container andthe pump mechanism handle at the other end together with means tending to hold .1n open position a. valve controlling the discharge outlet and an improved arrangement whereby when the handle is in its full .in-position said valve will be held in closed position and released to open immediately upon movement of said handle at the beginning of its out stroke; to provide means for preventing leakage from the discharge outlet when the extinguisher is supported with its discharge end down and the valve is open; to provide a discharge iFig- Fig. 6 1s a sectlonal View on plane 6--6,

takes so that only the one submerged in the liquid will be open to liquid; to provide improved means which will prevent entrance of air at any time to the discharge tube; to provide valve mechanism in the formof an oscillating tube structure controlled by an automatically shifting weight, preferably in the form of mercury; to provide improved arrangement for permittin the liquid intakes to communicate at al times with the liquid during longitudinal tilting or axial rotation of the extinguisher; and in general to provide simple and durable construction and arrangement which will enable efiicient operation of the extinguisher under all conditions to project a powerful and uniform stream.

The various features of my invention are clearly disclosed on the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the extinguisher with part of the inclosing shell and handle structure broken away;

Fig. 2 is a similar elevational view with part of the inclosing shell in section on plane :22, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a complete sectional view on plane 2-2 Fig.1;

Fig. 4 IS an elevational view of the handle end of the extinguisher with the handle pulled out a distance and showing particularly the controlling mechanism for the discharge valve;

Fig. 5 1s a sectional view on plane5-5,

Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on plane 7-7, Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged diametral sectional view through the nozzle end and part of the intake duct;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view on plane 99, Fig. 4;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged view partly in section showing the pivot arrangement of the valve structure; and

tube extending axially full length of the liquid container from the handle end thereof to the discharge outlet and to provide liquid inlet to said discharge tube only at the handle end; to provide a duct with an intake at each end for conveying liquid to the discharge tube inlet and to provide improved valve mechanism for controlling said in- Fig. 11 is an enlarged sectional view on plane 11-11, Fig. 2.

The extinguisher body comprises a cylindrical sheet metal shell 1 closed by the upper and lower cap frames 2 and 3. These cap frames are shown screwed to the cylindrical shell and preferably they are also soldered in ordeyto'insure sealing fit. The bottom cap frame 3 at its center has the inwardly extending cup 4 which threadedly receives the nozzle ca 5 having the outlet 6. The cap andcup form the valve chamber 7 for the disk valve 8. The upper capv frame 2 has the central concave section 2 which carries the stuffing box 9. The disk valve 8 is threaded on to the lower end of the valve stem 10 and held thereon by a lock nut 11, and the enlarged section 10 of the stem passes through the stuffing box 9 and the bearing sleeve 12 which screws into the stufling box, the packing material 13 preventing leakage. Extending through the shell 1 from the cup 4 to the stuffing box 9 is the discharge tube 14 throughwhich the valve stem passes. This,tube communicates with the valve pocket, and surrounding the outlet thereof into the valve pocket is the annular valve seating ridge 15 for the valve 8, the valve preferably having the facing 16 of leather. The upper end of the discharge tube abuts against the stufling box and surrounds the enlarged section 10" of the stem. and at this end the tube has inlets 17 for the fire extinguishing fluid within the extinguisher body. As the extinguisher,

when not in'use is suspended from a sup-' port with its nozzle end down, these inlets 17 are at the upper end of the discharge tube to be above the level of the liquid 50 that .Tubular piston rods 24, 24'

there will be no leakage in case the valve 8 should accidentally'be opened. I

The upper end of the valve stem extends through a cap 18 screw threaded to the outer end of bearing sleeve 12 and the compression spring 19 which surrounds the stem between the cap and enlarged stem section 10 tends to force the valve stem downwardly to hold the valve 8 off its seat. However, as will be explained later, the valve is positively held against its seat against the force of spring 19 when the extinguisher is not in operation, and is released to allow the spring to effect opening thereof immediately when theextinguisher is put into operation. Describing now the pump mechanism for forcing air against the liquid to effect ejection thereof from the nozzle under pressure, two air pump structures 7) and p are provided and operated by the common handle 20 in such manner that when the handle is pulled outwardly one of the pump structures will compress air and when the handle is pushed back the other pump structure will compress air. The pump structures 7) and 79 comprise respectively the barrels 21 and 21 closed at their inner ends by plugs 22 and 22' and at their outer ends by plugs 23 and 23' respectively, the barrels extending a distance outside the cap frame 2 and secured thereto. extend through the respective pump barrels and at-their outerends are secured to the base 20 of the handle 20, the interiors of the rods being thus open to atmosphere. The plugs 23, 23 through which the'rods extend. form outer bearings for the rods. At the inner end of the rod 24 is secured a leather piston 25 in such manner that when the handle structure is pushed inwardly air will be compressed in advance of the piston. On the ton travels outwardly and permits air to,

flow into the pum barrel through the hollow piston rod 24. The piston structure 25 provides a valve seat 26' for the ball valve 27 a spring 28 tending to force the valve on its seat. This valve is closed when. the piston structure travels inwardly and opens when the piston is pulled outwardly in order that air may flow into the pump barrel through the-hollow rod 24.

' A partition 29 in pump barrel 21 provides an air reservoir 30 at the lower end of the barrel and'this partition has the inlet opening 31 controlled in such manner by a spring-pressed check valve 32 that it will be opened to permit air to flow into the reservoir 30 when the piston structure '25 is traveling inwardly, and to close the opening when the piston is traveling outwardly. In the barrel 21 of pump structure, 19' a partition 29 provides the reservoir 30 at the upper end of the pump barrel 21 and this reservoir is connected with the reservoir 30 by the pipe 33. The through the partition 29 a spring-pressed check valve 32 in such manner that air may flow there-through only when the piston 25 is traveling outwardly. The operation of the pump mechanism is evident. When the handle 20 is forced inwardly valve 27 closes and air is compressed in advance of the -piston structure 25 and forced past the valve 32 to distribute itself in reservoir 30, pipe 33 and reservoirBO'.

passageway 31' When the handle 20 is pulled outwardly piston 25 compresses the air infront of it and forces it past valve 32 into the reseris controlled by voirs, and thus during both inward and outward movement of the handle air is being compressed. During outward'movement of the handle air in pump barrel 21 in advance of the piston is forced out between the piston rod 24 and the plug 23, while air can flow into the barrel in the wake of the piston through the hollow piston rod and past the valve 27.v Also during outward movement of the handle air will flow through the piston rod 24 and past the valve 27 into the pump barrel 21 in the wake of piston 25'.

Extending from the pump barrel21 at the upper end thereof is the tube 34 which provides outlet passageway 35 from the reservoir 30 forthe compressed air. The outlet passageway is controlled by a ball valve 36 held against its seat 37 by a compression spring 38, an abutment 39 for the spring threading into the end of the tube 34. By means of'this adjustable cap thepressure of the spring against the ball .valve can be adjusted to permit opening of the valve only when the pressure in the air reservoirs exceeds a certain amount. When" the extinguisher is not in use it is supported with its nozzle end down and the air outletwill then be above the liquid.

During use of the extmguisher the liquid.

will flow from one end to the other thereof, but on account of the spring pressed valve 36 it cannot enter the pump barrels for when the air pressure is sufiicient to open the valve the air willforce any liquid away from the outlet, and when the air pressure is not sufficient to open the valve the spring will keep the valve closed.

As already described the liquid inlets 17 to the discharge tube 14 are at the handle. end of the extinguisher in order to be above the liquid level when the extinguisher is suspended from its support. When the extinguisher is used it is tilted and provision must therefore be made to 'at all times con-; nect the inlets 17 with the liquid. At the same time any entrance of air to the discharge tube must be prevented as in the first place the air would mix with the liquid and cause ejection in the form of spray instead of a long stream, and in the second place the air would feed oxygen to the fire.

.The mechanism for controlling the entrance of liquid to the discharge tube and for preventing entrance of air is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Surrounding the discharge tube is a feed tube 40 of larger diameter than the discharge tube. The up-. per end of this tube has the inlet nipple 41 and the lower end thereof has the inlet nipple 42, the nipples extending in-the same direction. The ends of the tube 40 are sealed against the entrance of liquid and particularly of air. As shown, the handle end of the tube 40 surrounds the tubular extension 9 on the stuffing box 9 and abuts against the sealing washer 43 mounted on said extension. The other end of the tube is spaced.

from the discharge tube by the bushing 44 and abuts against the sealing washer 45.

carried on the ring 46 which slides on the discharge tube and is pressed toward 'the tube 40 by the compression spring 47. During assembling ofthe extinguisher parts the tube 40 is first mounted on the discharge tube extending from the cap frame 3 and the tubes are then inserted and the cap frame screwed to the shell, the spring 47 is out of the liquid to thereby prevent entrance of air to the dischargetube, I provide a pivoted valve. structure whose oscillations are controlled by a shifting weight. As best shown in Figs. 2, 10, and 11, the valve structure '2; comprises a tube 48 pivotally suspended at its center from tube 40. From the tube 40 arms 49 and 50 extend downwardly, and pivot extensions 51 and 52 from the tube 48 engage in openings 49' and 50 in these arms. In order that the Valve structure may be readily removed from its pivot support the pivot extensions 51 and 52 are at the ends of wires 51 and '52 extending-lengthwise of the tube 48 in 0pposite directions and secured thereto at their outer ends. By pressing the wires toward each other their pivot ends will be Withdrawn from the openings 49 and 50 and the entire valve structure can then be removed. A stirrup frame a: entending from the tube 40 straddles the tube 40 and guides it in its oscillations.

The tube' structure 48 has at one end a v shelf extension 53 opposite the end of nipple 41, and at the other end the tube structure v has the shelf extension 54 opposite the end of nipple 42. The shelf 53 carries a leather valve 55 and the shelf 54 carries'a leather valve 56, the pivot adjustment bein such that the valve structure may escil ate to close one of the nipples and to open the other. To automatically control the tilting ofthe valve structure when the extinguisher is tilted in. order that the immersed nipple entrance will be opened and the nipple above the liquid closed, I provide a shifting wei ht 57 in the tube 48, and this weight is pre erably inthe form of a heav liquid. Mercury is probably the best su stance for this purpose as it is very heavy and very mobile and will shift with the slightest tilting of the extinguisher. Referring to Fig. 3, if the extinguisher is shifted to bring the nozzle end below horizontal the mercury inv the tube 48 will immediately shift to over-weight the nozzle end of the valve structure and nipple 42 will be opened and nipple 41 closed and then when the pumps are operated the fluid will enter nipple 42 and will be forced through tube 40 and through inlets 17 to the dlscharge tube. If the extinguisher is tilted, say 45 degrees, the level of the mercu-ry will be at m, that is, all the mercury will be in the lower half of the tube 48 and its weight will act to keep the entrance nipple 42 wide open, and the nipple 41 closed. Furthermore, the tube above the mercur will be filled with air and the buoying eft ect of the liquid will therefore exert upward pressure against this upper part of the valve response would not be nearly so rapid and efiicient as that of mercury. Where mercury is used it is preferably sealed in a tube 58 of some metal which it will not attack and this tube is inserted in the outer tube 48.

During use of the extinguisher it is not only subjected to tilting but also to turning or rotation about its axis, and to insure communication of the nipples with the liquid during rotation of the extinguisher the tube 40 which supports the valve structure for the nipples is rotatable about the discharge tube 14. As before stated the tube 40 is sealed at its ends by the leather washers 43 and 45 by force of the spring 47. However, the weight of the valve structure with the mercury therein is sufiiciently great to overcome the pressure of the spring 47 so that the tube 40 can readily rotate to quickly follow any turning of the" extinguisher, and the entrance nipples will therefore always extend downwardly with one of them in communication with the liquid. If desired, additional weight to may be added to the suspended valvestructure.

I have already referred to the spring 19 and its tendency to shift the valve stem 10 to open the valve 8, and that closure of-the valve is controlled by the handle. This control is plainly shown in Figs. 1 to 4 and 9. Extending from the sleeve 12 are the ears 59 and 60 supporting at their outer ends a pin 61 on which ispivoted at its elbow the bell crank lever 62. The inner end of this lever projects through a slot 63 in the sleeve and into a notch 64 in the enlarged part 10 of the valve stem 10. The outer end of the leverhas the rounded cam surface 65 which is in the path of the base'20 of the handle 20. When the handle is out as shown in Fig. 4, the lever 62 is free to turn and the spring 19 will shift the valve stem 10 downwardly to open the valve 8, and during such movement ofthe stem the lever will be rotated on account of its engagement in the notch 64, and the cam surface 65 of the lever will be shifted inwardly to be in the path of the base 20 of the handle. During operation of the extinguisher the handle will be reciprocated between its outermost position and its position of abuttin against the cam surface 65 of the lever. owever, when the operator is through using theextinguisher he forces the handle entirely inwardly until it abuts against the cap 18, and during such final inward movement the base 20' of the handle will pass over the cam surface 65 and will rotate the lever 62, and by engagement of the inner end of the lever with the notch 64 the valve stem 10 will be shifted upwardly and valve 8 will be drawn firmly againstits seat. The extinguisher may then be suspended with its nozzle end down and there will be no leakage. When the extinguisher is taken from its support and the handle operated, the first movement of the handle will release lever'62 so that the spring 18 may effect opening of the nozzle valve. A filling opening 66 is provided in cap 2 and isclosable by plug 67.

In order that a secure hold may be had on the extinguisher body the shell 1 is provided with indentations 68 preferably in staggered arrangement. guisher is grasped the finger tips will find these depressions and a secure hold will be obtained. The indentations or depressions also serve to strengthen the shell.

Itwill be noted that less power will be required to operate the pump,mechanism during the out stroke of the handle. This is for the reason that the effective area of the piston 25 15 less than that of the piston-25 by the area of the valve piston rod 24'. This difference in power required to operate the pumps is advantageous for it has been found, particularly with ladies, that the left arm is weaker on the push than on the pull. With my arrangement, in which the pulling piston is of less area, the operation of the extinguisher is.more uniform and balanced and a uniform steady stream can 'be thrown with accuracy tion the extinguisher is held. The provislon of reservoirs for the storing of air is very important as the ejection pressure of the air against the fluid is caused to be uniform independently of any erratic or irregular operation of the pump handle. When running to a fire the operator can close the nozzle outlet 6 with his finger and can then manipulate the pump mechanism to get quite a charge of air in the reservoirs before the fire is reached and then the accumulated air will be sufiicient to eject considerable liquid before it again becomes necessary to operate the pumps, all this of course adding to the effectiveness and efliciency of the extinguisher. There is no chance for leakage when the extinguisher is hanging in its sup- )ort with its nozzle down even when the handle is not fully pushed down and the valve 8 closed, for the inlets 17 to the discharge tube will be above the level of the liquid. Owing to sealing of the tube 40 at its ends and the efficient valve control of to the fire in whichever posithe inlet nipples there is no chance for air Neither is there any chance for liquid to get into the pump barrels, this being on account of the spring pressed outlet valve 36, this valve preventing outlet of air into the shell until the pressure reaches a certain value, and the air then flowing out under pressure will prevent entrance of any fluid to the pump barrels even though the outlet tube 84 is immersed in the liquid.

Another advantage of my construction is that no special manipulation is necessary to open the discharge nozzle when the extinguisher is to be used. All that is necessary with my extinguisher is to pick it up with one hand and to immediately operate the pump mechanism with the other, the discharge nozzle being automatically opened during the first slight outward movementof the handle, and the nozzle then remains open until the handle is again fully pushed inwardly after use of the extinguisher.

The parts in my extinguisher are of simple design and assembling or taking apart can be very readily an quickly accomplished; The entire pump mechanism with the operating handle is supported on the cap 2 and can be removed from the shell 1 by unscrewing of the cap. The discharge tube 14 is supported from the cap 3 and can be withdrawn after unscrewing of the cap. Before the cap 3 with'the discharge tube is applied the tube 40 with the valve mechanism thereon isslipped thereover.

I do not of course desire to be limited to the exact construction and arrangement shown and described as changes and modifications are no doubt possible which-would still come within the scope of the invention.

' I claim as follows: 1

1. In a fire extinguisher of the class described, the combination of a liquid container having a discharge outlet, two air pumps within the container each comprising a barrel and piston structure and piston rods extending from said structures, a-handle at the exterior of the extinguisher connecting with thepiston rods to efi'ect reciprocation thereof, one end of each barrel beingpartitioned off to form storage compartments and a pipe connecting said compartments, valve mechanisms controlling the flow into said compartments of air compressed by the piston structures, there being an air outlet intothe container from said reservoir compartments, and avalve adapted to resist flow of air-through said outlet, the air fed to said container acting as a iston against the liquid to force ejection t ereof through the discharge outlet.

2. In a fire extinguisher of the class described, the combination of a container having a discharge outlet at one end and a han dle at the other end, fluid ejecting mechanism operable by reciprocation of said handle to and from the extinguisher end, a valve for the discharge outlet, a stem extending from said valve through the container, a spring acting on said stem tendin to hold the valve in open position, an locking mechanism associated with said valve stem and adapted to be engaged by the handle when in its full in-position to be controlled to lock the stem against the power of the spring to thereby keep the discharge valve closed, movement of the handle away from its in-position releasing the locking mechanism to allow re-opening of the valve.

3. In a fire extinguisher of the class described, the combination of a fluid container having a discharge outlet at one end and a handle at the other end, fluid ejecting mechanism connected with the handle to be operated upon reciprocation of the handle toward and from the extinguisher end, a valve for controlling the discharge outlet, a stem extending from said valve full length through the container, a spring tending to shift the stem to hold the valve in open position, a lever having one end in engagement .with the stem and having a cam surface at its other end disposed in the path of said handle, said lever being released, from the handle when the handle is pulled out whereby said spring may effect opening of the valve, and said handle during the last part of its in-movement engaging said cam surface to swing the, lever to thereby efi'ect movement of the stem against the power of the spring to close the discharge valve.

4. In a fire extinguisher, the combination of. a liquid container, pressure producing means within said container, a handle at one end of the container for controlling the operation of said pressure producing means,

AUGIE L. HANSEN.

Witnesses;

Seem M. RYAN, LURLINE BULLWINKEL. 

